


The Ecstasy of Gold

by jerkbending



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Brutality, Gun Violence, Guns, M/M, Physical Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-08
Updated: 2015-08-08
Packaged: 2018-04-13 16:40:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4529349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jerkbending/pseuds/jerkbending
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Outlaw Josey Wales Jeeko fic you didn't know you wanted (and probably still don't)</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Ecstasy of Gold

**Author's Note:**

> There is attempted rape in this fic. The perpetrators do not succeed, but they do try. If that bothers you, I suggest skipping this one, please. Here also be gun violence.
> 
> The premise and some dialogue is ripped straight from the movie The Outlaw Josey Wales, but not everything. The title has nothing to do with the fic, but extra points if you make the leap.
> 
> Un-beta'd. All errors are mine.

The “trading post” turned out to be a one-room cabin with a small shed behind it and a sign so faded that he could hardly read the words nailed to the front door, but Jee wasn’t concerned. He needed another horse if Hakoda was going to travel with him, and there were two tied to the porch railing. The store manager was busy haggling with a couple of fur traders outside when he dismounted, so he led his own horse over to the water trough to wait his turn. The door to the shed creaked open, pushed by the shoulder of a young man carrying two bottles of whiskey on a tray, and it slammed shut again as if on a spring as soon as he was clear of it. The boy –really he was, on closer look. He might have been allowed to fight in the war, but just barely- did a double-take on seeing Jee, but the store manager hollered “Li!” over his shoulder, and he hurried the bottles over to him. 

He oughtn't to have been in such a hurry though, as he tripped over his own feet and sent one of the bottles crashing to the ground, splashing whiskey and scattering broken glass everywhere.

"Idiot!" the shop-keep yelled and swatted at his head; Li ducked but the blow wasn't even close to connecting. The manager took the other bottle from the tray and handed it to the fur traders, promising them that if they came back with twice as many pelts, then he could help them. They didn't look too disappointed, and Jee wondered if they were already too drunk to realize that they were going to get absolutely swindled if they brought back the amount of fur he was asking. But that was none of his business. 

The shopkeeper turned on Li then, shoved him down onto a woodpile against the side of the shop and began beating at him with a strap of leather, calling him 'clumsy' and 'fool' and cursing him every other word. He shielded his face with his arms and made some noises of protest, but didn't try to get up or get away, only curled up as much as he could and tried to turn his back to the belt. This wasn't really any of his business either, but it turned Jee's stomach a bit to see it go on; it was clumsy of the boy to break the bottle, but he didn't think it deserved this. 

"Hey!" he secured his horse to the railing and approached the two.

The shop-keep lowered his arm and turned around.

"You run this place?" Jee asked, hooking one thumb in his belt and resting the other hand lightly on a holster.

"Yes I do," the manager said, sucking in and standing just a little straighter; it didn't help much.

"Good, I need jerky, corn, and a good horse." Li slowly uncurled while his employer was distracted, and Jee was taken aback by what looked like a huge burn scar on the left side of his face. 

"I can sell you jerky and corn," the manager said, the boy forgotten as he led the way up the steps to the door of the shop, "but the horses belong to the two gentlemen inside. You'll have to talk to them."

"Fine," Jee followed him up onto the porch, but looked back once over his shoulder to find Li was watching him as well. He pulled on the brim of his hat and followed the other man into the dark interior of the shop.

The inside was lit by a lantern on the counter and what light filtered through the cracks in the planks of the walls. Dried meat and strings of small animal pelts hung from the ceiling; the few shelves in the middle of the room were stacked with oil lamps and kerosene, a little cloth, nails, coiled rope, empty water skins, mismatched boots, heavy socks, a few blankets in bright colors, assorted tin pans and cups, and some bottles of "cure-all" that smelled like they might cause more problems than they solved. There was a chest-of-drawers to the immediate left of the door, and next to that, in the corner, a large bed made up with bigger pelts. It made sense; there were no other buildings close to here to house the shop-keep. He wondered if the lack of second mat meant that Li slept in the shed. The shelves behind the counter that he could see were filled with sacks of corn, flour, tobacco, and beans. Two men were leaning against it, passing another liquor bottle back and forth and laughing at some joke they'd been sharing before he walked in. 

The shopkeeper left Jee to do his haggling but was accosted by one of the men when he rounded the bar, slamming the bottle hard on the counter, "Hey! This is what you give those traders," he spat onto the dirt floor, "where's the real stuff?"

The shopkeeper shook his head and ducked down under the counter, bringing up another bottle that he uncorked and set in front of the men, "That's the best we've got. Trade's been...strained, since the war."

"Put it on our tab," the third man said, taking a long swig. Jee wandered the short aisles to give them a few more minutes to drink; it'd be easier to get a horse off them if they were drunk. 

The bell above the door tinkled to announce Li again, bringing in dry wood to stack against the stove. The two men at the bar elbowed each other and exchanged looks that put Jee on alert, a hand wandering down to his hips. 

"Hey," one of the men leaned back over the counter to the owner, "what do you take for the boy?"

"What?" the shopkeeper nearly fell off his small stool where he'd been pulling a string of furs down, "wh- he ain't for sale."

The two men stared silently at him until he spoke again, "Well, I mean, he ain't _mine._ He works here." 

One of them pushed off the counter, stalking across to where Li was sorting pelts on the bed and pulled him up by his hair, "Too bad about that scar, he's a pretty little thing otherwise."

"Put him face down," the other took a last pull from the bottle and slipped off his stool to waddle over to the bed. 

Jee watched them push him down onto the bed, trying to hold his arms, then his legs, pulling at clothes and not making very much headway for all the fuss he was making. Li was punching and kicking at every opportunity he could get, not making a lot of other noise besides grunting and the errant "no," but as fiery as he was, there were two of them, and they definitely had him beat in body weight. When they got him pinned on his back, one of them went in laughing for a kiss and pulled back cursing and spitting blood. He slapped Li in the face and pulled at his shoulders where the other man was holding him down, "Get him over, hellion. Teach you somethin'." Jee glared at the shopkeeper, amazed he'd let this go on in his store, but the man behind the counter shrugged and refused to meet his eyes.

Fine then. 

"Don't reckon' you've got too much to teach him," Jee sauntered over to the bed, hand resting on the hilt of one of his pistols. "Why don't you let him up, and we can talk business. I'm lookin' to buy a horse."

"And I'm lookin' to buy the crown jewels," one of them growled over his shoulder, trying to yank Li's pants down. The other was sitting behind the boy at the edge of the bed, alternating between trying to turn him over by the shoulders and keeping out of the way of his flailing arms and really succeeding at neither. 

"I've got twenty-five solid dollars here, plus some-"

"You got cotton' in yer ears?" the man trying to undress Li sat up on his knees, "I ain't sellin' ma horse. Now you can mind yer own business or you can walk outta here a few pints lighter."

"I reckon this _is_ my business," Jee said, gripping the gun and watching the man holding Li's shoulders slowly reach for one of his own guns, "Let him up. 'Less you want trouble." 

"Sounds to me like _you_ want-" but the rest of what he was about to say was drowned out by a gunshot. He whipped around to see his partner slump down off the bed to land with a thunk on the floor. The wall behind them was splattered with blood and brains, and Jee's gun smoked in his hand. 

"I said, let him up." 

"Why you!" The man on the bed roared and tried to rush him, but he didn't even get his pistol out of the holster; he made an even louder thump when he hit the floor. There were some brains on the floor now that Jee was sure Li was going to have to clean up, but that was better than the alternative.

"Well," he slid his gun back into his belt and turned to address the shop-keep, shaking and white coming up from behind the bar, "looks like there's two horses outside with no riders. You got a problem with me takin' one?"

The shopkeeper shook his head quickly, "N-no sir, of course not, help yourself, by all means."

Jee tugged his hat at him and turned to do the same to Li, who was sitting up on the bed tugging his clothes right. There was some blood spatter on his clothes and hands, but otherwise he looked unharmed. 

He was inspecting the saddlebags of the horses when Li came running out of the shop to the shed in the back; Jee raised an eyebrow and shook his head, went back to picking through the hardtack and jerky in the packs. Not a minute later Li came running back out of the shed and nearly skidded to a stop in front of the water trough. 

"I want to come with you."

Jee jerked his head up; Li's voice was scratchy and he spoke with a definite accent, but he was sure he'd heard right. "What?"

"I'm coming with you. I don't want to stay here."

"Son," Jee sighed, "you don't want to come with me. I'm not going anywhere good."

"Where _are_ you going?" Li asked. Jee noticed he was carrying a rucksack slung over one shoulder; it looked like it had seen better days, but one red and gold charm hung tied around the neck, glinting in the sunlight.

"Hell, probably," Jee decided on black mare, she looked faster than her friend, "I'm an outlaw, kid. I'm headed into Indian Territory; if you come with me, they'll be after you too."

"I'm not afraid," Li set his jaw and crossed his arms, "Hell is better than here. I want to come with you."

"Look, Li-"

"Zuko," the boy interjected, "my name is Zuko."

"I-Zuko, fine," Jee answered, tying the black horse to his own brown one, "you can't come. I'm traveling with someone else and we don't have room for you. I had to come and get another horse for him anyway."

"But there are three," Li-Zuko nodded to the white horse dipping his head in the water, "I can ride this one. I'm coming with you."

Unfortunately, he was right, and Jee stood for a minute or two trying to refute his argument. He couldn't use food because they were already going to have to hunt for the two of them, what was one more mouth. The kid apparently packed light if he was only bringing that sack, and there _were_ three horses. 

"Fine," Jee grunted and swung up onto his horse, "you wanna come along, that's on you. But don't say I didn't warn you about the road."


End file.
